NBC News reports today that law enforcement authorities have uncovered emails that show Penn State President Graham Spanier, PSU Vice President Gary Schultz and PSU Athletic Director Tim Curley “discussed whether they needed to tell authorities about a 2001 allegation involving a late night encounter between a naked Sandusky and a young boy in the Penn State shower room.”

NBC News reporter Michael Isikoff also noted of Penn State’s handling of the, “2001 allegation involving a late night encounter between a naked Sandusky and a young boy in the Penn State shower room“:

Penn State even did legal research on the issue. But in one e-mail exchange two sources say Spanier and former vice president Gary Schultz agreed it would be, quote, “humane” to Sandusky not to inform social services and the incident never got reported.

Video and text of the transcript of the NBC report, which concluded by noting that, “the investigation as to whether there’s a cover-up by Penn State officials is very active and going strong,” is below:

NBC News reporter Michael Isikoff: Jerry sandusky goes on trial today charged with repeatedly molesting young boys. Law enforcement officials tell NBC News Pennsylvania prosecutors are weighing bringing more charges in this case against former top Penn State officials for allegedly concealing what they knew about his conduct.

As sandusky goes to court, law enforcement sources tell NBC News investigators have obtained new evidence in this case. Internal e-mails and documents they say show former Penn State President Graham Spanier and others discussed whether they needed to tell authorities about a 2001 allegation involving a late night encounter between a naked Sandusky and a young boy in the Penn State shower room.

The sources say documents show Penn State even did legal research on the issue. But in one e-mail exchange two sources say Spanier and former vice president Gary Schultz agreed it would be, quote, “humane” to sandusky not to inform social services and the incident never got reported.

Sandusky, who denies all charges, is facing 52 counts of child sex abuse. Eight of his alleged victims are slated to testify. Among them, a young man known as Victim Six who first told Penn State in 1998 when he was 11 years old that Sandusky had bear-hugged him in the Penn State football locker room shower.

Dr. Alycia Chambers, the boy’s psychologist, submitted this report to Penn State police at the time, concluding Sandusky’s behavior fit that of a likely pedophile’s pattern.

NBC News reporter Isikoff: But a second psychologist reached a different conclusion and no charges were filed. (In 1998.)

Then-Penn State football graduate assistant Mike McQueary had originally testified to a grand jury he saw Sandusky in the shower with a young boy in March, 2002.

A new e-mail says Spanier, Schultz and former Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley discussed what McQueary saw and whether to report it more than a year earlier.

Lawyers for Spanier, who was fired last September, did not return calls seeking comment.

Lawyers for Schultz and Curley said, “the information confirms conscientiously considered Mike McQueary ’s reports of observing inappropriate conduct, reported it to the university president Graham Spanier and deliberated about how to responsibly deal with the conduct.”

Legal sources say discovery of the e-mails show whatever happens in the Sandusky trial, the investigation as to whether there’s a cover-up by Penn State officials is very active and going strong.

On Nov. 5, 2011, the same Grand Jury reported of Victim 4, one of the children Sandusky allegedly sexually abused:

The Penn State football program relocated to the Lasch Football Building in 1999 and that facility had a sauna. Victim 4 reported that after the move, most of the sexual conduct that did not occur in a hotel room occurred in the sauna, as the area is more secluded.

Victim 4 remembers Sandusky being emotionally upset after having a meeting with Joe Paterno in which Paterno told Sandusky he would not be the next head coach at Penn State and which preceded Sandusky’s retirement. Sandusky told Victim 4 not to tell anyone about the meeting. That meeting occurred in May, 1999.

While Sandusky’s “retirement” from Penn State was announced three months later, Paterno allowed Sandusky to coach the entire 1999 season.

The Grand Jury reported that it was during the 1998 and 1999 Penn State football seasons that Sandusky allegedly, repeatedly sexually abused Victim 4 - a child at the time - while representing Penn State on road trips and during overnight stays by the school’s football team at a local hotel before home games:

Victim 4 was listed, along with Sandusky’s wife, as a member of Sandusky’s family party for the 1998 Outback Bowl and the 1999 Alamo Bowl. He traveled to and from both bowl games with the football team and other Penn State staff, coaches and their families, sharing the same accommodations. Victim 4 would frequently stay overnight at Toftrees with Sandusky and the football team prior to home games; Sandusky’s wife was never present at Toftrees when Victim 4 stayed with Sandusky.

This was where the first indecent assaults of Victim 4 occurred. Victim 4 would attend the pregame banquet and sit with Sandusky at the coaches’ table. Victim 4 also accompanied Sandusky to various charity golf outings and would share a hotel room with him on those occasions.

Less than a year before Paterno told Sandusky in 1999 that, “it would be best that he make a coaching change“, Penn State law enforcement filed an exhaustive 130-page police report in which Sandusky confirmed to detectives that he had showered with two boys in the Penn State locker room. As part of the Penn State Police report, Sandusky admitted to the mother of one of the boys - in the presence of two police detectives - that his behavior “was wrong” and that “I wish I were dead.”

Shortly after that report was filed and three months before Paterno reportedly told Sandusky in 1999 that, “it would be best that he make a coaching change“,Neil Rudel of the ALTOONA (PA) MIRROR reported that Paterno had recently proposed that Penn State’s Altoona branch campus start a football program.

With Sandusky as head coach.

In a Jan. 22, 1999, piece titled, “PSU Altoona Explores Football,” school CEO Allen Meadors indicated that the Sandusky-coached football program proposal was Paterno’s idea:

The idea was actually born out of a conversation with Joe Patemo. “He told me it was time for football at Altcona,” Meadors said. “I wouldn’t have even considered it if Joe wasn’t supportive of it.”

“I think it’s a good idea for the community,” Patemo said. “Eventually a lot of our branch campuses will have football, and I think more kids would be willing to stay four years, and it would help applications for admission.

“There are so many kids that really would like to play football and would like to have the Penn State name, and some of these (Division III) schools are so much more expensive than Penn State. It would be an opportunity, and there isn’t a prettier campus in the state than Altoona. The next logical step would be football”

But in a followup story by Rudel in the Mirror on April 9, 2011, then-Penn State Altoona CEO Meadors said he was initially pitched the idea by Sandusky:

“Jerry called me and asked if I would be interested in having a football team at Penn State-Altoona. I said ‘Sure, if we had a way to pay for it.’ He mentioned that he knew a gentleman who might be willing to provide the necessary funds. We visited with the gentleman, but he never committed the money, and a football-team project never got off the ground.”

In Rudel’s 1999 article, Sandusky confirmed that he had “spoken about it” with Paterno and that he would “be interested” in running the startup Penn State-affiliated program if the funds could be raised.

Sandusky has discussed the possibilities of football with Meadors several times and could conceivably envision himself becoming the head coach here.

“If it was possible (to have a program in Altoona), I’d be interested,” Sandusky said. “It would be nice. I think it’s a great idea for Penn State Altoona.”

Just three months later Paterno told Sandusky - as related by PSU VP Schultz to the State College Grand Jury - “it would be best that he make a coaching change.”

After that meeting, a Penn State Altoona football program startup was never discussed again publicly by Paterno, Sandusky or PSU Altoona officials.

At the time of the proposal, Penn State Altoona CEO Meadors told the Mirror in the original, Jan. 22, 1999, article that, “I’m concerned their (Paterno and Sandusky) scope is narrow. They’re mainly looking at Altoona, but it would have to be a much broader view than Altoona.”

Four days after tales of alleged child rape perpetrated by Jerry Sandusky surfaced in a Grand Jury presentment formalizing dozens of criminal charges against the former Penn State football coach, Sara Ganim and Jan Murphy of the HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS reported of a power struggle within the Penn State Board of Trustees.

Trustees lack confidence in Garban’s ability to lead the university out of this mess given his close relationships with (Tim) Curley, (Gary)Schultz and university President Graham Spanier, sources said.

Yesterday, sources indicated Spanier’s job and that of head football coach Joe Paterno were in trouble over their handling of the sex-abuse allegations. The board is creating a committee to investigate the scandal.

The trustees dislike how a few board members appeared to have been notified that charges against Curley and Schultz were imminent while the vast majority of trustees were left in the dark until Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon, shortly after Attorney General Kelly released the indictment, some board members were told they should wait until Thursday to discuss the charges. That didn’t sit well with everyone. A core group demanded, and got, an emergency meeting within 24 hours, sources say.

Twenty trustees made their way to State College for the Sunday night meeting, while others called in by phone. It was at that session that the board began to question Garban’s leadership, and a faction began to coalesce around the need to take assertive actions.

Some trustees believe the university’s handling of the matter has been bungled. Sources said the statement issued Saturday by Spanier vowing his unconditional support to Curley and Schultz caught some by surprise — and disgusted them.

“John” was John Surma, Chairman & CEO of U.S. Steel and Vice Chairman of the Penn State Board of Trustees. It was Surma who then announced Paterno’s firing and took questions from a frenzied group of media and students.

“There will be full accountability for those found responsible,” said Steve Garban, chair of the board. “All resources will be made available for the committee to fulfill its charge and there will be no restrictions placed on its scope or activities.”

Garban said when the investigation is complete, a full report will be given to the board at one of its regular meetings.

“Trustee Frazier has agreed to chair this important committee in this endeavor,” Garban said. “He’s experienced, seasoned and will provide the leadership necessary to prevail.”

48 hours earlier, the Patriot-News had reported that its sources were suggesting, “a new chairman could be named soon.”

Perhaps the fact that Garban was instrumental in quickly promoting longtime Penn State administrator Rod Erickson from “acting president” to “president” - in less than 48 hours - has something to do with Garban’s unchanged status atop the Penn State Board of Trustees.

From the CENTRE (PA) DAILY TIMES on Nov. 18, 2011:

On Thursday, university spokesman Bill Mahon confirmed that Rod Erickson is the university’s new president, and there are no plans to conduct any search to fill the job.

Or the fact that the media and public is apparently unaware of the intimate involvement of Garban’s son with “The Second Mile”, a charity Sandusky now appears to have set up to help him target children for sexual abuse.

For years the son of Steve Garban, Drew Garban, was an acting member of The Second Mile’s Board of Directors - right up until Sandusky’s arrest. (Garban’s name was, like many others, scrubbed from the charity’s website after details of Sandusky’s alleged sexual crimes against children were revealed.)

Drew Garban was also a longtimemember of The Second Mile’s prestigious “Arthur C. and Evelyn M. Sandusky Society.” As noted in the charity’s most recent annual report located on its current website:

In addition to raising funds from those who wished to bequeath assets from their estate to The Second Mile, the Arthur C. and Evelyn M. Sandusky Society was set up to recognize Jerry Sandusky’s parents - who also created a charitable organization that included a boarding house for wayward youth. A house where Sandusky spent part of his youth.

In the same Centre Daily Times Nov. 18, 2011, piece that noted PSU Board Chair Steve Garban fronting the permanent hire of Rod Erickson as Penn State President, it was reported that Penn State University Trustee David Joyner had taken over as Penn State’s “acting athletic director” in place of Curley, who is now facing charges he lied to a Grand Jury when questioned about his role in reporting alleged crimes related to the sexual abuse of children by Sandusky in the Penn State locker room in 2002.

Steve Garban was the leader who, as Chairman of the Penn State Board of Trustees, ultimately oversaw an environment which undeniably placed the personal desires of individual adults - and their business interests - above the welfare of children.

And despite Garban’s close relationship with all those involved with the alleged Sandusky child rape coverup, and his son’s intimate involvement in the operation of Sandusky’s charity as an acting Second Mile Board member and extraordinary financial contributor, the child-endangering environment at Penn State clearly remains alive and well.

On November 5, 2011, Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curleywas charged by the Attorney General of the State of Pennsylvania with felony perjury, a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison, along with failure to report the alleged sexual abuse of a child. (Child Protective Services Law.)

Curley’s charges stem from a Centre County (PA) Grand Jury investigation and presentment that led to former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky being charged with 40 crimes relating to the sexual abuse of children. One such allegation against Sandusky involves the rape of a 10-year-old boy in the Penn State locker room in 2002, which was witnessed by current Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary. McQueary later reported Sandusky’s alleged heinous act to Joe Paterno, Curley and Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz. (Schultz has been charged with the same crimes as Curley.)

As noted by a press release from the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly on Nov. 5:

Kelly said that rather than reporting the matter to law enforcement, Curley and Schultz agreed that Sandusky would be told he could not bring any Second Mile children into the football building. That message was also reportedly related to Dr. John Raykovitz at the Second Mile (Past Executive Director and Executive Vice-President and currently the President and CEO of the Second Mile).

Of Penn State President Graham Spanier’s knowledge of the situation, the Grand Jury reported:

Curley was not specific about the language he used in reporting the 2002 incident to Spanier. Spanier testified to his approval of the approach taken by Curley. Curley did not report the incident to the University Police, the police agency for the University Park campus or any other police agency.

Spanier testified that he was only told by Curley that there was “horsing around” in the shower between Sandusky and a young boy. Spanier added to the Grand Jury that he was told such conduct by Sandusky made a member of Curley’s staff “uncomfortable.”

By his own testimony before the grand jury, Spanier knew as early as 2002 that Sandusky and a young boy had been witnessed “horsing around” by a staff member in the locker room of the football building.

It’s not clear if Spanier also knew about a six-week investigation by his university’s police force that centered around similar touching in a shower in 1998 that never led to charges.

The 1998 Penn State University Police investigation of Sandusky showering with at least one young boy in the Penn State locker room, which the coach admitted in the presence of two police detectives, resulted in a 100-page police report filed by the Penn State University Police Department. A police report stemming from a “lengthy” investigation of Sandusky that Spanier and Paterno currently claim they are completely unaware of.

Both the graduate assistant and Curley testified that Sandusky himself was not banned from any Penn State buildings and Curley admitted that the ban on bringing children to the campus was unenforceable.

Attorney General Kelly also noted of the action Curley and Schultz claimed they took against Sandusky:

“Despite this so-called ‘ban’, which was reviewed and approved by University President Graham Spanier without any further inquiry on his part, there was no effective change in Sandusky’s status with the school and no limits on his access to the campus. Sandusky’s ‘emeritus’ position, alleged negotiated as part of his 1999 retirement, provided him with an office in the Lasch Football Building; unlimited access to all football facilities, including the locker room; access to all recreational facilities; a parking pass; a university Internet account; listing in the faculty directory and numerous other privileges - he had remained a regular presence on campus.”

Please join us for a celebration to honor the 2011 NCAA Wrestling National Championship Team led by Big Ten Coach of the Year, Cael Sanderson!!

We will gather in the Mount Nittany Club in Beaver Stadium on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 between 5:00 - 6:30 pm, with a brief program beginning at 6:00 pm. The dress is casual and no reply is necessary.

We hope you and your guests will join us to honor this tremendous team!